Medical care is getting increasingly expensive for the city's common man. Our campaign 'Bitter Medicine' takes a deeper look at costly treatment, and how it affects vulnerable patients who spend astronomical sums to get treated
After dengue patient seven-year-old Adya Singh's death and allegations of overcharging in Fortis Hospital Gurugram became a major issue, a relative of the dengue patient who died in Mulund-based Fortis Hospital tried to compare his late wife Deepa Maurya's bill will Singh's bill.
Two months ago, the Bhandup resident was diagnosed with dengue in Fortis hospital after she was shifted from another hospital but died a few days after she was admitted. The family is still struggling to pay the hospital bills, which on a per-day basis cost over one lakh from the time she was admitted.
While the family is yet to receive a summary of the entire bill from the hospital. Deepa's husband, Shivpratap Maurya, said, "After the Gurugram case was highlighted for overcharging, I cross-checked details of the hospital bill and found that the hospital charged more or less the same amount that the Gurugram branch did."
The costlier brand of Meropenem injection, 'Merocrit,' by Cipla - costing around Rs 3,112 per injection was injected four times besides the other injections on day one. Investigations of the medical test done during the treatment cost Rs 2,24,630.
Speaking about the investigation cost going beyond two lakh rupees in Maurya's case, the spokesperson of the hospital, in an email, stated, " As per policy, we never charge any drug or consumables above the printed MRP.
Some patients suffering from severe dengue shock syndrome or severe dengue hemorrhagic fever include multi-organ involvement such as liver failure, kidney failure, brain dysfunction, lung failure and severe bleeding tendencies require ventilator support. In these cases, multiple and repeated investigations are needed to not only to assess multiple organ involvement but also to assess response to the treatment."
While Deepa, who had recently delivered, was shifted to Fortis Hospital, her baby was shifted to a nursing home in Mulund for further treatment. Deepa succumbed to dengue haemorrhagic fever on October 25 at Fortis Hospital and the family handed a bill of around Rs 10 lakh.
The family claims that the charges of the blood bank for inpatients are higher than that of outpatients. During treatment, Shivpratap had purchased few components from the Fortis blood bank for his baby, who was undergoing medical treatment in another hospital. "While I bought single-donor apheresis platelets worth Rs 11,000 for my baby (outpatient), it cost more for my wife. Same was the case with fresh frozen plasma which cost Rs 900 for my baby while they charged Rs 950 for my wife." Shivpratap said.
However, the hospital refuted the allegations. "Charges are same for both in and outpatients, the charges are in accordance with the National Blood Transfusion Centre & FDA guidelines," said the hospital spokesperson.
BILL DETAILS
- Deepa was admitted for nine days of which given below is the breakup of the bill on the first day
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